House Leadership The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House. The Speaker is elected by the majority party (the Democratic Party Caucus or the Republican Party Caucus, depending on which party controls the House) and sets the schedule for debates and votes on the House floor. The majority party also elects a majority leader, who works closely with the Speaker and the caucus leadership, and several whips, who count votes and connect the leadership to the rank-and-file members. The minority party in the House, meanwhile, elects a minority leader and several whips of its own. The leadership in the House has a great deal of power over its party because the leaders have the ability to reward and punish members. Members who cooperate with the leadership may be given good committee assignments or even leadership of a committee. Conversely, members who defy leadership may be ostracized by other party

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Unformatted text preview: members. Party discipline is usually very strong in the House. Senate Leadership According to the Constitution, the vice president of the United States presides over the Senate. In reality, however, the most senior member of the senatealso called the president pro tempore (informally called the president pro tem)usually presides over the Senate in the vice presidents absence. The president pro tem position is mostly a ceremonial position. The majority party of the Senate elects a majority leader, who performs some of the same tasks as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The minority party also elects a minority leader. Leaders in the Senate have much less ability to punish and reward members than their counterparts do in the House. Senators are expected to be independent, and party leaders give members wide latitude in how they behave....
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